Paul Ryan Didn't Gut Medicare, Barack Obama Did

The Obama campaign went after Congressman Paul Ryan over the weekend, claiming that he wanted to push old people off of cliffs by gutting their Medicare. The problem with that false narrative comes by way of Cutter Shambles, the Deputy Campaign Manager for Obama’s reelection effort:

Cutter demonstrates a rare bit of honesty here: President Obama did gut Medicare with his health care law. It was part of the fuzzy math employed to make Obamacare look less expensive than the real price tag. Sacrificing seniors for headlines.

As we’ve The Apothecary, the Wyden-Ryan Medicare plan–so named because it was coauthored by progressive Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.)–only applies to Americans younger than 55 years of age, and gives those younger individuals the option of remaining in the traditional Medicare program, or choosing a comparable private-sector insurance plan.

The policy-wonk term for this approach is “competitive bidding,” an idea that originated with Democrats. The Wyden-Ryan plan is nearly identical to one that was introduced a few weeks earlier by Mitt Romney.

The bottom line: if Romney and Ryan leave you the option to remain in the 1965-vintage, fee-for-service, traditional Medicare program, and you claim that Medicare has “ended as we know it,” what you’ve really ended is the English language as we know it.

Democrats apparently think we voters have forgotten their debunked scare tactics from 2011. Their inability to evolve their rhetoric from this point shows how desperate the campaign is and how scared they are after the Ryan announcement.